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Some of the chuck roast recipes I have been reading talk about cooking it for 4 or 5 hours, instead of the 2 hours that Fabio used for his shank slices. The fact that it was not tender suggests that there was not enough time over 160 F to get all the connective tissue converted into collagen and then into gelatin.
I recall reading that the muscle fibers tighten up and squeeze all of the juice out in the first phase of cooking. This makes tough meat even tougher. Then as that connective tissue conversion is near done, the muscle fibers relax and uncoil. This draws liquid back into the meat. So a tough and flavorless roast, but tasty liquid, does seem consistent with the "too short" hypothesis.
If you still have most of the roast and braising liquid, you might just try putting it all back in the oven (or a crock pot) for a few more hours. Might as well experiment, since it doesn't sound like you want to eat it as is.
I believe that surrounding the meat with braising liquid keeps it from going over 212 F, as long as there is liquid left. So it is much less likely to get burned or overcooked than a dry roasting method.
